April 30, 2007
What's For Dinner?
I'm sort of in a sushi mood...
Or maybe a fresh salad with some lovely goat blue cheese since it's such a wonderful, glorious, warm, spring day...
Or maybe something spicy...
As you can see I haven't really made my mind up yet, but it's always thinking!
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 2:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Rosemary And Celtic Sea Salt Roasted Baby Red Potatoes
Potatoes are often a side dish because they are just so versatile! Baby potatoes are especially good. These Rosemary And Celtic Sea Salt Roasted Baby Red Potatoes will fast become a favorite!
What You'll Need:
2 pounds of baby red potatoes, washed
Extra virgin olive oil
Celtic Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2+ tablespoons of fresh rosemary, chopped
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Place potatoes in a baking dish and add enough with olive oil to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and rosemary over the potatoes evenly and bake for 35-35 minutes until potatoes stick done. Serve immediately.
Notes: If you don't have, or can't find, Celtic Sea salt than regular sea salt will work or even kosher salt. Celtic Sea salt adds a nice touch and has such a nice flavor though and I highly recommend it if you can find it. Also you can add as much rosemary as you like. I'm a firm believer that there's no such thing as too much rosemary! Or chocolate for that matter, but that's a tale for a different time! ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 2:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 29, 2007
Happy! Happy! Happy!
One class down! Two to go! See that guy above, he looks like me...No really!
The group project I've been working on is in the final stages. We have the draft put together and I am hoping it will be out of the way in the next 2 days!
My final will be available tomorrow and I hope to have that done by Tuesday night at the latest!
I have one more assignment due, but I'm hoping to knock that out in the morning out on the deck thanks to the wi-fi connection and the joys of a laptop, while Alexis plays and does her thing!
So right now I'm happy, happy, happy! The end is in sight!
We have a few more things brewing, which are exciting, but for now I'm just happy that this semester is almost OVER!!
And I have two more recipes to add to the list of those upcoming: Homemade Granola bars (TO DIE FOR!) and Tomato and Thyme Pizza with Goat Cheese (three cheeses actually, but I just love me some goat cheese!) So stay tuned!
Posted by Dianne at 10:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Salsa Macaroni and Cheese
Nothing is as good as freshly made macaroni and cheese! It's one of the best comfort foods out there. This is a spicy twist on a classic. What's not to like?
What You'll Need:
1 - 16 ounce box of large macaroni elbows
1/2 an 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 of an 12 ounce bar of cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons of fat free half and half
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of salsa (I like medium)
Prepare macaroni according to package directions and drain well.
While macaroni is cooking, melt cheese with half and half and black pepper until melted and smooth. Once mixture is melted and smooth stir in salsa.
Pour melted cheese mixture over cooked and drained macaroni and stir to mix. Serve warm.
Note: You can pour the macaroni into a buttered dish and top with more shredded cheese and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly browned for an extra yummy treat!
Posted by Dianne at 9:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Homemade Pasta Sauce
Homemade pasta sauce is easy and you can't beat the taste! You control what's in it, especially in terms of things such as salt and herbs! Whip up a batch...You won't be sorry!
What You'll Need:
Extra virgin olive oil
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 small package of mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of dried basil
A pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large can of unsalted tomato sauce
In a large skillet over medium heat sauté garlic, onion and mushrooms with oregano, basil, sea salt and black pepper until veggies are tender. Add tomato sauce and simmer on low for at least 30 minutes (or as long as you like) to let the flavors meld. Serve over cooked pasta and top with Parmesan cheese if desired.
Simple, easy and delicious!
Notes: You can add in whatever veggies you like. Bell pepper is a nice addition and so are leeks! Whatever you like would be great.
Posted by Dianne at 9:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 26, 2007
Coming Soon!
I'm finally beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train!! I still have a few projects left and the final, but it's all coming together!
I have several recipes to share with you soon: Vanilla Pound Cake With Blueberry Sauce And Whipped Cream, Guinness Risotto With Goat Cheese And Thyme, Onion Rings, French Fries With Sea Salt, Chicken And Dumplings, Rosemary And Celtic Sea Salt Roasted Baby Red Potatoes, Salsa Macaroni and Cheese and Homemade Pasta Sauce. I'm also working on a rhubarb recipe, but I haven't quite decided where I'm going with that yet. (I've never tried rhubarb, but I've been told I should so I bought some!)
So stay tuned! I hope to post a recipe or two this weekend and then next week things should get back to normal! (Whatever normal means!) ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 6:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 24, 2007
I'll Be Back Soon
Hey everyone. I've received several emails asking where I've been so I thought I'd make a quick post. End of the semester things still have me tied up. I have 5 projects and 2 finals due in the next week or so. I'm hoping to have everything but one of the finals wrapped up by this weekend. I'll be back soon with new recipes! Until then check out my blog roll and see what they're cooking! :o)
Posted by Dianne at 2:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 21, 2007
Smashed Buttermilk And Parsley Potatoes
Nothing says comfort like smashed potatoes! The possibilities of what you can do with them are endless! You can throw in a few different ingredients and mix and match and you have dish after dish of yummy goodness!
What You'll Need:
2 pounds of red skinned baby potatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup of buttermilk
2 tablespoons of butter
1/4-1/2 cup parsley
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Wash potatoes and cut into quarters. Toss with some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until tender and then place potatoes in a large glass bowl.
Right before you remove the potatoes from the oven heat buttermilk and butter until butter melts. Pour mixture into the bowl with the potatoes and smash. Stir in parsley (more if you like or less, it's up to you) and serve warm.
Simple, easy and delicious!
Posted by Dianne at 7:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 20, 2007
Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
A few years ago I saw Ina Garten (I love her!) make cookies similar to these and I tried them out and decided they needed just a little tweaking. I usually don't mess with her recipes because they are usually right on the money (and this one wasn't bad to begin with), but it just needed a little something and it was one of those you could easily play around with!
In my version I added more chocolate, less flour, less vanilla and less salt. Sometimes I even like to stir in a cup of coconut and some Macadamia nuts along with the white chocolate for a tropical treat, but any way you bake them, they won't stay around long. They're delicious!
What You'll Need:
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup of dark brown molasses sugar
1 cup of organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup of cocoa
1 3/4 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
4 - 4 ounce Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bars, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream butter, sugars and eggs until smooth. Add cocoa and mix until completely incorporated. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt and add to chocolate mixture. Mix until flour is just mixed. Add white chocolate and stir to mix.
Drop dough by large tablespoon full onto a baking sheet that is lined with a Slat. Bake for 12-15 minutes and remove from the baking sheet to a cookie rack to cool.
Makes about 30 cookies.
Notes: As I mentioned in the introduction you can easily add things into this dough. Nuts would be a nice addition, as would chocolate chips along with, or in place of, the white chocolate. Mint chips or even peanut butter chips would also be delicious! There is no wrong answer when it comes to cookies. Mix it up and make it your own!
Posted by Dianne at 4:52 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 16, 2007
Hiatus
I'll be taking a hiatus for a few days while I finish up some end of the semester papers and we take care of some personal stuff as well. I should be back in 2 or 3 days, but until then happy eats to you all! :o)
Posted by Dianne at 3:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fusilli Tossed With Garlic, Parsley, Cherry Tomatoes And Parmesan
This quick and easy Semi-Recipe comes together quickly and hits the spot when you just need a pasta fix!
What You'll Need:
1 box of Fusilli
6-8 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup of fresh parsley chopped
1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan
Cook Fusilli according to package directions. Sauté garlic in olive oil until tender. Pour garlic/oil over cooked pasta. Add cherry tomatoes, parsley, a pinch of sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Toss to mix and serve immediately.
Quick, easy and delicious!
Posted by Dianne at 10:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 14, 2007
Chocolate Guinness Cake With Ganache And Cherries
When we got Guinness for Saint Patrick's Day cooking we had to buy a 6-pack since they wouldn't let you buy just one. We're not really stout drinkers (or beer either) so I still have 5 bottles in my fridge. My sister sent me a link to a Chocolate Stout Cake made by Smitten Kitchen and I thought it looked like something I might want to play with and I did just that. I tweaked the ingredients a little, added some cherries and voila...Yummy Chocolate Guinness goodness! Seriously this cake is scrumptious! You must try it!
Now I've got 4 bottles of Guinness left...I wonder what Guinness Hush Puppies or battered fish would taste like? And I also want to try Murphys Brown Bread and Guinness Ice Cream recipe, but I may just have to go try it in person too when we're there in October/November. That takes care of two more bottles. Maybe I'll just have to make a few of the recipes twice! ;o)
What You'll Need For The Cake:
1 cup of Guinness
2 sticks of butter
1 cup cocoa
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup of organic cane sugar
1 cup of dark brown natural sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of sea salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Melt Guinness, butter and cocoa over medium heat. Bring to a slow boil and cook until slightly thickened. Stir occasionally to ensure no scorching. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
In a large bowl mix flour, sugars, baking powder and sea salt and set aside.
In a small bowl beat together sour cream and eggs. Slowly add cooled chocolate mix to sour cream mixture stirring constantly to ensure that the eggs do not curdle and the mixture is mixed thoroughly. Add to flour mixture and stir until just mixed. Pour batter into a Bundt pan that has been sprayed well with non-stick spray. Bake for 35-45 minutes until toothpick inserted into cake come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before turning cake out onto a large plate. Let cake cool completely.
What You'll Need For the Ganache:
1 cup of milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup of half and half
1/4 cup of organic cane sugar
Melt chocolate chips and sugar in half and half until smooth. Pour over the top of the cooled Chocolate Guinness Cake.
Note: I would have liked to have served fresh or frozen cherries with this cake, but for some reason I didn't have any in the fridge or freezer, which is totally unlike me. I did however have a can of light cherry pie filling that was still in date, which was totally unlike me, though I don't remember buying any, so I used that instead. If you wanted to make a cherry topping you could cook 2 cups of cherries with 1/4 cups of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water until the sugar melts and the mixture starts to thicken a bit. You could also top the cake with fresh whipped cream, but I didn't have any of that on hand yesterday either. Not a stellar fridge or freezer day for me yesterday to say the least! ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 4:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 13, 2007
Celeb Cause
I'm a contributor to a brand new blog entitled Celeb Cause. My daily column (Dianne's Dish) is about natural/organic health and beauty products. Check it out if you get a chance! :o)
Posted by Dianne at 1:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What's For Dinner?
Tonight Alexis and I are having Beggar's Stew and Homemade Loaf Bread.
And for dessert I'm going to make my own little twist on this Guinness Cake...I think even Jamison will eat that! ;o)
Update: 4:26 PM: Alexis and I have had a busy, busy day so Jamison is going to stop and pick up Outback on the way home. I still made cake for dessert though! ;o)
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 12:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Whole Grain Shrimp Enchiladas
Enchiladas by their very nature are anything but healthy, delicious yes, but healthy, not so much. This was my attempt at making them a bit healthier and it turned out deliciously! True, it's still not bonified health food, but it's a lot better than their original fat laden counterparts. Try it and see!
What You'll Need:
Extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 baby yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 baby red bell pepper, chopped
Sea salt
Black Pepper
1-8 ounce package of fat free cream cheese
1 medium block of low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded (Note: I have not been able to find fat-free cheddar cheese in block form and the pre-shredded stuff does not melt properly due to stabilizers. I don't know if they make fat free block cheddar cheese, or what it would melt like. It is possible that there might not be enough latent fat content for it to work. If anyone knows of a brand of fat-free cheddar cheese in block form that you've tried then email me a diannesdishes at gmail dot com and let me know. :o))
1 cup of salsa
1 1/2 cups of small steamed shrimp
8 Whole Grain (preferably sprouted grain if you can find it) 8-inch Tortillas
1/2 cup of fat free half and half
Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a large skillet over medium heat sauté onions and bell peppers with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper until tender. Stir in cream cheese, salsa and 1/2 of the cheese and stir until melted and creamy. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare a 13 X 9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Place the enchilada filling from the skillet down the middle of each of the 8 tortillas and roll the tortillas up. Place them seam down in the baking dish and cover with them evenly with the rest of the cheese. Pour half and half over the cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is slightly browned. Remove enchiladas from the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with sour cream, guacamole or any other topics you prefer.
Posted by Dianne at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 12, 2007
What's For Dinner?
Tonight Alexis and I are having Shrimp Fajitas Enchiladas with Dianne's Kicked Up Red Beans and guacamole.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mini Frittatas
Frittatas are sort of like quiche without the crust. These little gems make perfect appetizers and they bake up in no time to boot!
What You'll Need:
Extra virgin olive oil
4-6 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 a small red onion, chopped
6 large green olive, chopped
6 eggs
Parmesan cheese
Sea salt
Black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Sauté mushrooms and onion in a little extra virgin olive oil until tender. Set aside.
Beat eggs until mixed and fluffy.
In a muffin pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray put equal amounts of onion, mushroom and olives into each cup. Cover each cup with egg and sprinkle with a couple of teaspoons of Parmesan cheese on each cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until egg is set and slightly browned.
Note: You can use any veggies you like. Asparagus would be very nice in these little frittatas or even some sun dried tomatoes. Black olives could be substituted for the green olives or you could even use capers if you like them. (I happen to despise capers! But to each their own. ;o)) You can also switch up the cheese and use cheddar or even Feta.
Posted by Dianne at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 11, 2007
Deviled Eggs Part Two: Wasabi Deviled Eggs
I was surfing around the web today and saw a couple of different recipes For Wasabi Deviled eggs and thought I'd take my recipe for Deviled Eggs and add a little wasabi (1 tsp to 1 tablespoon depending on how spicy you like things) since I still had some Easter eggs in the fridge. They turned out great. If you like things with a little kick give it a try!
Posted by Dianne at 7:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Roast Turkey Breast
Jamison and Alexis love roasted turkey. I make it a lot around here and though I didn't actually eat any of it this time, I can vouch from the past that it's delicious! This turkey was for Easter dinner and this time I got only the breast section and roasted it, instead of an entire turkey since Jamison isn't a fan of the dark meat and I wasn't going to eat any of it or make broth. When Thanksgiving rolls around we'll talk about brining the turkey and actually making broth, but until then, here's a Semi-Recipe that turns out perfectly every time!
What You'll Need:
A turkey breast section or a small whole turkey(This has two breasts still attached to the bone section)
An onion cut into quarters (No need to peel it or anything)
1 lemon cut in half
Extra virgin olive oil
Thyme sprigs
Rosemary sprigs
Sea salt
Black Pepper
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Rinse the turkey and place it into a baking dish. Sprinkle the cavity of the bird with sea salt and pepper. Stuff with onion. lemon and herbs. Sprinkle the outside of the turkey with olive oil until coated. Sprinkle with sea salt, chopped rosemary and black pepper. Bake until breast reaches 170 F. (About.com has a nice chart of approximate cooking times per pound. Be sure to check the temperature to be sure though! If the turkey starts getting too brown for your liking, but hasn't reached the magic number, then cover it loosely with foil to keep it from browning any further.) Remove the turkey from the oven and let it stand for at least 20 minutes before cutting to let the juices settle and then slice and serve.
Posted by Dianne at 2:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 10, 2007
Fruity Chicken Salad
I've mentioned before that I'm mainly Pescatarian (Ovo, lacto, veggies and fish), but once in a blue moon (and in fact for the first time in 2007) I crave meat around the time of that lovely female monthly visitor. For the past two weeks I've wanted chicken. At first I thought it was an iron thing, so I increased iron in my diet, but nothing seemed to take the edge off. I tried some of the chicken substitutes and still I was not satisfied. Saturday evening I baked a chicken with olive oil and rosemary, stuffed with onion and lemon. When I took a bite my whole body sighed in relief. I still don't plan to eat it everyday, only on rare occasions when I am actually craving it and the craving will not go away (thus the new category "Sometimes Meat"), but sometimes my body just wants what it wants.
Anyway, I had some left overs so I made up a batch of my Fruity Chicken Salad. When I was a kid there was an old theater in the town I grew up in that had a little cafe that operated during the week when the theater wasn't open. My mom worked up the street so sometimes in the afternoon after school my sister and I would venture up to the cafe for a snack (or in my case a late lunch...I was really bad about not eating lunch back then!) and to kill time until Mom got off work. The cafe served a wonderful chicken salad sandwich that had pineapple in it and I was hooked. The cafe closed years ago, but this is my take on their classic.
What You'll need:
2 cups of cooked chicken, shredded
1 cup of fresh pineapple, chopped into small pieces (or if you don't have fresh you can use the same amount of canned pineapple tidbits)
1/2 cup of mandarin oranges, chopped
1/2 cup of cashews or almonds
1/4 cup of light mayo
2 scallions, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Dump all ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Serve on a bed of lettuce or on bread. Store leftovers in the fridge.
And did I mention easy? ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 9:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 9, 2007
What's For Dinner?
Tonight I'm having fusilli tossed with garlic, parsley, cherry tomatoes and Parmesan.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 5:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Dianne's Egg Salad
So now that Easter is over what do you do with all those boiled eggs? Well Deviled Eggs are always a good choice, or you can use them in Potato Salad or even Tuna Salad, but the King of all egg recipes is Egg Salad. I developed this recipe a few years ago after wondering what Egg Salad actually was. I had never had it before. This take is not as heavy as some, but it's delicious none the less. Eat it on bread, or in a tomato...You can't go wrong either way!
Note: I do NOT advise making anything with Easter Eggs that have spent hours out of the fridge. We color eggs, but don't hide them, so they go from the pot, to the fridge, to the dye and back to the fridge. If your eggs have been out in nature for several hours or more waiting to be hunted, especially if it's warm, then you might want to rethink cooking with them.
What You'll Need:
6-8 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 teaspoon of celery seed
A pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup of light mayo
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Bread (Optional)
Mix eggs, celery, celery seed, salt, pepper, mayo and mustard until incorporated. Serve in a quartered tomato with lettuce or on bread with lettuce and tomato as a sandwich.
Posted by Dianne at 10:42 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 8, 2007
Chocolate Easter Eggs
I got some organic chocolate and made chocolate Easter eggs and Easter bunnies for Jamison and Alexis. The bunnies both lost their ears, but the eggs turned out quite well. If you'd like to see the run down of how it's done check out this entry from Valentine's Day.
Posted by Dianne at 6:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Deviled Eggs
What's Easter without Deviled Eggs? Everyone has their own twist, this is mine.
What You'll Need:
12 boiled eggs, cut in half and remove yolks into the bowl of your food processor
1/4 cup of mayo
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 heaping tablespoon of yellow mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons of vinegar
A pinch of sea salt
A pinch of black pepper
In the bowl of your food processor mix boiled egg yolks, mayo, sour cream, mustard, vinegar (I sometimes use white vinegar and sometimes apple cider vinegar...today I went with white), salt and black pepper and process until smooth. Place egg mixture into a large pastry bag with a large star tip affixed. Squeeze egg mixture into the boiled egg whites and chill until serving.
Notes: You can add finely chopped blue cheese into the egg mixture or even Parmesan cheese for two nice variations. You can also sprinkle the tops of each egg with paprika and/or chopped parsley if desired.
Happy Easter Everyone!
Posted by Dianne at 3:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 7, 2007
The Perfect Easter Eggs
This year I decided to make my own dye instead of buying a kit from the grocery store. Who knew it was this easy?
What You'll Need:
Eggs
Sea salt
Boiling water
White Vinegar
Food Coloring
Boil eggs by bringing your eggs to boil in a large covered pot of water with at least a tablespoon of sea salt. When the water starts a rolling boil turn off the heat and let the eggs remain in the covered pot for 10 minutes. At the end of ten minutes remove the eggs from the pot one at a time and place in a strainer carefully. (Note: When I'm not worried about the eggs cracking I just dump them into the strainer, but since these were Easter eggs, you need to be a bit more careful.) Let the eggs cool to room temperature or you can even put them in the fridge and color them later. The best way to store them is in the carton they came in. This is true after they are boiled and even after they are colored.
When you are ready to color your eggs bring a kettle full of water to a rolling boil. In large cups (I find large coffee mugs work the best...You're looking for containers that will let the egg be completely submered in the dye solution) place 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and as many drops of food coloring as you like. (Note: The more drops you put in the more vivid the colors, so if you want pastel colors stick to 5-10 drops. If you want darker then add as many drops as you like! Have fun with it!) Once the water is boiling add water to fill up each cup leaving enough room so that when you add your egg it won't overflow the top. Leave the eggs in the colored water mixture for 2-3 minutes or however long it takes to get the color you're looking for.
Here at our house we don't actually hunt the colored eggs, we actually make deviled eggs out of them and hunt plastic ones. We just do the egg coloring for fun. But no matter what you choose to do with them, this is a quick, easy and wonderful way to make the perfect Easter Egg!
Posted by Dianne at 9:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Easter Marshmallows
We set out for the grocery store this morning to procure items for our feast tomorrow and Peeps were on my list since tomorrow is Easter after all. When we got there however there wasn't a single Peep to be found! Never deterred I remember that the Barefoot Contessa made Coconut marshmallows the other day on her show. I decided it wouldn't be hard at all to take her recipe, tweak it, add some sugar sprinkles and make our own Easter marshmallows! This was the end result and they turned out even better than I imagined! ;o)
What You'll Need:
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup of water
1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (Read the back of your bottle and make sure it does not have high fructose corn syrup in the syrup.)
1/2 cup of water
Butter to coat your dish
Powdered sugar to dust your dish
Colored sugar sprinkles
Combine the gelatin in 1/2 cup of cold water in your mixer and let sit while you complete the other steps.
In a medium sized pot mix sugar, corn syrup and water over low to medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolves raise the heat and cook until the mixture reaches 240 F. Remove from the heat and pour slowly into your gelatin mixture while the mixer is on low. Once the sugar liquid is all added turn your mixer slowly to high and beat for 10-15 minutes until the mixture is white, thick and creamy.
While the mixer is mixing coat a 13 X 9 inch pan with butter and then dust with powdered sugar. When the mixture is ready pour into prepared pan and spread out to the edge. You can wet your hands to help with the spreading if you like. Sprinkle with colored sugar crystals of your choice and let sit for 2-3 hours until firm. Cut out shapes of your choice with cookie cutters or simply slice the marshmallows into squares. Store marshmallows in an airtight container.
Posted by Dianne at 9:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Easter Bunny Cupcakes
Every year for Easter I make a bunny cake. This tradition has become even more fun now that Alexis is here and can help out. This year I decided to make bunny cupcakes after seeing the idea on the Betty Crocker website instead of a big cake. I however made cupcakes from scratch and also my own icing and tweaked their idea more than a little. The resulting creation turned out to be adorable and delicious! What more can you ask for?
What You'll Need For The Cake:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup of plain yogurt or sour cream
1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 heaping teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Melt butter in the microwave in a large bowl. Dump the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix well. Pour batter into a muffin pan that has been lined with cupcake liners. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cupcakes stick done.
Makes 20-24 cupcakes depending on how big you like your cupcakes
What You'll Need For The Icing:
(This is my variation of Wilton's classic decorating icing.)
2 cup solid vegetable shortening (Buy a variety that is trans-fat free such as Spectrum.)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of pure almond extract
8 cups confectioners' sugar
2-4 tablespoons water (Optional)
Food coloring for tinting (Optional)
Cream together shortening, vanilla and almond. Slowly add sugar and beat until smooth. If needed add water to smooth out the icing. To tint icing add food coloring one drop at a time and mix thoroughly until desired color is reached. For this recipe remove some white icing before you tint the remaining batch so you will have it for your bunny faces.
What You'll Need For Decorations:
Chocolate chips
Licorice
Candy dots
Chocolate jimmies
Colored jimmies
Marshmallows
Sugar sprinkles
Etc.
After the cupcakes have cooled coat each cake with a base coat of icing in the color of your choice. Alexis wanted to do purple, and it was purple when we tinted it, but it turned blue as the icing set. After you have each cupcake covered then using a large decorating tip pipe a white area of icing to be the bunnies face. Take large marshmallows and cut into three circles with a pair of scissors. Cut each circle into half and then press into the colored sugar of your choice and affix into the white icing at the top to make ears. Use two chocolate chips for eyes, a candy dot for a nose, jimmies or licorice for whiskers and colored jimmies for the mouth. Voila! Easter bunny cupcakes!
Posted by Dianne at 8:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 6, 2007
Hush Puppies With Creamy Dill Dip
Hush puppies can be used as an appetizer or a side dish, while this creamy little dill sauce is also wonderful as a dip for veggies, on a veggie sandwich or even on a cucumber onion salad! Whether you're having fish, or would just like a good hush puppy by itself, this recipe is the one for you!
What You'll Need For The Hush Puppies:
2 cups of yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of sea salt
2 eggs
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 1/2 to 2 cups of buttermilk (eye it as you go...depending on the humidity you may need more or less...you're looking for a sticky dough)
Safflower oil for frying (or your oil of choice)
Preheat oil to 350 F.
Mix ingredients and drop by the rounded tablespoon full into the hot oil turning to brown. (About 1-2 minutes depending on how brown you like them and the size you've made your hush puppy.) Remove from oil and drain. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve hot.
Note: You can add chopped bell pepper into the batter if you like, or a shot of hot sauce for a kick.
What You'll Need For The Dip:
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of light mayo
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/3 cup of freshly chopped dill
A pinch of sea salt
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
Mix ingredients thoroughly and serve immediately. Store left over dip in the fridge.
Note: You could easily use low-fat or even fat-free components to make this dip healthier. (I tend to use fat free sour cream and low-fat mayo...buttermilk is usually low-fat or fat free to begin with.) You could also add some chopped scallions or shallots for a nice kick.
Posted by Dianne at 9:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 5, 2007
Creamy Potato Leek And Mushroom Soup
Some days you just need comfort food and nothing is more comforting than a creamy, warm, delicious bowl of soup! This recipe could easily be used in any recipe that calls for a can of "cream of" soup by adding an extra tablespoon of flour, or by cooking up the recipe without the extra flour and letting it cool in the fridge before using in a casserole if you have the time. By using shredded potatoes, instead of chunks of potatoes, you end up with that lovely potato flavor and creaminess, but you have a soup that cooks up in half the time. No matter how you do the soup it's delicious!
What You'll Need:
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
6-9 baby portabella mushrooms, chopped
1 potato, peeled and shredded
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of skim milk
Sauté onion, leek and celery in butter and olive oil until tender. Add shredded potato, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and cook for about 2 minutes to soften up the potato. Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes to cook the flour. Stir in milk slowly, while stirring, and cook for 8-10 minutes until soup is slightly thickened.
Posted by Dianne at 9:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 4, 2007
What's For Dinner?
I'm drawing a complete blank today. I thought about chili for a little while, but then decided no. Then I thought about maybe making some tomato soup, but that's just not quite calling to me today either. I'm at a complete loss!
Update: 6:29 PM: I decided to make some Creamy Potato Leek And Mushroom Soup.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 2:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Whole Wheat Taco Pasta Salad
I love pasta salads. They are so versatile! Just by switching the herbs and spices around, or adding one vegetable or another, you can come up with a completely different taste sensation! This pasta salad uses the flavors you would usually associate with Tacos and melds them into a pasta creation! Try it...You won't be sorry!
What You'll Need:
1/2 of a 12 ounce package of Hodgson Mill Organic Whole Wheat Penne with Milled Flax Seed, cooked according to package directions
1 cup of frozen corn
1 small red onion, chopped fine
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 small English cucumber, chopped
1 - 16 ounce can of black beans or red beans, drained and rinsed (Or you can soak black beans overnight and use roughly 2 cups of cooked beans. I decided to make this at the last minute so soaking wasn't an option, though to be honest it's my preferred method.)
A pinch of sea salt
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
Cook pasta and drain in a strainer over frozen corn to knock the freeze out of the kernels. Pour into a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients to the pasta and corn and stir to toss. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
Notes: You can top this salad with tomatoes when serving, but I wouldn't add tomatoes into the salad itself. The tomatoes can not hold up to the acidity of the vinegar for storage and will break down to mush if you add them to the salad itself and then store the left overs.
Sliced avocado would also be very good added to this salad when served, but I didn't have one on hand last night when I was making dinner.
You could even top with a little shredded cheddar, sour cream and chopped scallions to really compliment the Taco flavor.
If you like cilantro (I do NOT), you could chop up some cilantro to add into the mix as well.
Sliced black olives would also be a good compliment to the salad.
As always play with it...Make it your own! ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 3, 2007
Creamy Pea Soup
This is a very simple, very fresh soup. Hot or cold, it's delicious!
What You'll Need:
Extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, cut into slivers
1 clove of garlic, minced (You want just a hint of garlic for this soup. You do not want to over power the creamy flavor of the soup with too much garlic.)
1 - 16 ounce bag of frozen peas
2 cups of water
Sea salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup of sour cream or plain yogurt
In a medium sized pot sauté onion and garlic until tender and slightly carmelized. Add peas, water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cook covered for 2-5 minutes until peas are done through. Drain peas and reserve cooking liquid. Place peas in a food process and process with yogurt and enough of the cooking liquid to make a creamy, smooth soup. Serve warm or chilled, whichever you prefer, with a dollop of sour cream of plain yogurt.
Posted by Dianne at 11:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What's For Dinner?
Whole wheat taco pasta salad.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 9:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 2, 2007
Sushi: Cucumber and Avacado Rolls
After having sushi on Saturday I decided to try a backward roll (that's what I call the ones with the rice on the outside). It turned out pretty well. Next time I need to roll it just a bit tighter. So for lunch today I whipped up a Cucumber roll (backward) and an avocado roll. There is just something so light and refreshing about sushi. It reminds me of spring!
What You'll Need:
2 Nori sheets
1 cup of cooked and prepared sushi rice
1 small cucumber
Sweet pea shoots (optional)
1/4 a large avocado
Sesame seeds
Wasabi
Low sodium soy sauce
If you've never rolled or made your own sushi before check out this entry I did in January that gives you the basics of making a roll. It's very easy! Don't let it scare you!
For the Cucumber Roll I spread the rice out on the sheet of Nori as you normally would when making a sushi roll. Then I flipped it over where the rice side was down and put a row of cucumbers and some sweet pea shoots on the bare Nori. I then rolled it up and sliced it. Voila! A backward sushi roll. (And as I said above that's just what I call them. I have no idea if they have a real name or not.)
For the Avocado Roll I spread the rice out on the Nori sheet, sprinkled it with some sesame seeds (less than a teaspoon) and rolled it up as usual. I then sliced it into pieces.
Serve with wasabi and low sodium soy sauce if desired.
Posted by Dianne at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What's For Dinner?
Tonight Alexis and I are having creamy pea soup.
Update: 4/03/2007: 9:32 AM: We ended up grabbing dinner out since we had to run an errand. Alexis and I are going to have creamy pea soup for lunch today instead.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 1, 2007
Mini Eggplant Pizzas
I came up with this idea the other day when I was trying to think of an alternative to pizza dough for pizza for a change. I tried it out tonight and it worked like a charm! It's warm, hearty and delicious!
What You'll Need:
An eggplant
Pizza sauce
Pizza toppings (Mushrooms, Onions, Mozzarella, Parmesan, etc. Whatever you like on your pizza. I even tried out some veggie pepperoni tonight!)
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Slice eggplant into slices and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with some extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. I also roasted some mushrooms and red onion on the same pan. Roast for 5-6 minutes until slightly tender. Remove eggplant from the oven and spread each slice with roughly 1-2 tablespoons of pizza sauce depending on the size of the slice of eggplant. Sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese and arrange pizza toppings on top of sauce. Top with fresh mozzarella and put them back into the oven. Bake for 4-6 minutes until cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and serve warm.
How's that for a nice little twist on pizza without the dough?
Posted by Dianne at 5:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Where To Eat: Pasadena, Maryland
Yesterday we decided to try out The Szechuan Cafe in Pasadena, Maryland. They had Chinese food for Jamison and Alexis and sushi for me. Overall it was a very nice little place. Our waitress was a dream! My sushi was very good and Alexis' vegetable Lo Mein was good as well. Jamison wasn't pleased with his entree (not enough meat for him), but he's hard to please along those lines.
Overall I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars.
For kid friendliness I'd give it a 1 out of 5. (Our waitress however gets 5 out of 5 stars for kid friendliness though...She went above and beyond and Alexis adored her!)
If you live in the Pasadena area and haven't tried it yet, check it out!
Address And Phone:
4315 Mountain Road
Pasadena, MD 21122
Phone: (410) 255-8555
Fax: (410) 255-8554
Hours:
Tuesday Thru Thursday 11:00 am to 10:00 pm
Friday & Saturday 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Posted by Dianne at 1:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What's For Dinner?
Mini Eggplant Pizzas.
What are you having?
Posted by Dianne at 1:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack